Olympiacos knocks Turkey's Galatasaray to advance to the Euroleague quarterfinals

ATHENS

Olympiakos' Vassilis Spanoulis (C) vies with Ender Arslan of Galatasaray (L) during their Euroleague basketball game in Athens. AFP photo

Olympiacos Piraeus advanced to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs with an 88-81 victory over Galatasaray Medical Park on Thursday.

Vassilis Spanoulis dominated to the tune of 20 points, 8 assists and 4 steals to lead the Reds to victory. The Reds improved to 3-3 and finished in second place in the group over Galatasaray on a tiebreaker. Next Olympiacos faces Italian champion Montepaschi Siena in the best-of-five playoffs for the second year in a row. Olympiacos led from start to finish after opening the game with a 7-0 run.

It was 24-14 after 10 minutes and 43-35 at halftime. The hosts went ahead 11 early in the third quarter.

Jaka Lakovic scored 8 points in a 0-10 burst as Galatasaray closed the gap to 1, but the Reds wasted no time as Georgios Printezis and Acie Law combined for the next 10 points to put Olympiacos back in control, 64-53. From that point, the Reds found many heroes to answer each Galatasaray comeback attempt and held on for a huge win. Printezis added 16 points and Law scored 14.

Luksa Andric paced six Galatasaray scorers in double figures with 15 points. Jamon Lucas scored 13 before leaving with an apparent ankle injury, Josh Shipp and Lakovic netted 12 each, Preston Shumpert 11 and Furkan Aldemir 10 as Galatasaray finished an impressive first season at Europe’s highest level.